Today’s itinerary (EDIT: Motion passed, Montana out)

The motion to authorize UTSA president Dr. Ricardo Romo to accept an invitation to the Western Athletic Conference has just passed by unanimous vote in Austin.

A few comments that stood out (apologies, but it was difficult to figure out who some of the participants were via Webcam):

After looking at the legal and financial aspects…we are satisfied that while there are clearly some new dimensions to this entire prospect…this is indeed on a firm, business-like basis.

We want to thank and applaud what Lynn Hickey has done, first in hiring your coach, and everything else she has done to get this started. We appreciate the professional job she had done.

EDIT, noon Thursday

A news item just crossed the AP wire reporting that Montana president Royce Engstrom has decided the Grizzlies will stay put in the Football Championship Subdivision, which changes about half of what follows further down in this entry.

UTSA will now join the WAC in 2012 in some capacity.

I haven’t gotten a response back from the source who told me this last week, so full entry might have already been decided. But as of last week, there was still an option being discussed to add UTSA only partially to the football schedule, three or four games compared to the full seven.

That would obviously be to UTSA’s liking, at least softening the blow of moving up after kicking off in 2011.

This will be the very first thing I try to pin down with Lynn Hickey and Larry Coker at today’s function.

On an important but lesser note, that probably leaves Seattle University to fill the slot that had been held open for Montana. That would make it UTSA and Texas State in all sports, and Denver and Seattle in everything but football and whatever other sports they don’t sponsor.

///

So, just a quick check-in before today’s announcment(s).

Nothing new to report, really, just some definitive times so everybody knows what to expect.

We’re supposed to get a release at 3 p.m. from the Western Athletic Conference detailing the league’s “future expansion” plans: i.e. the additions of UTSA, Texas State and the University of Denver.

That will be followed by a 4 p.m. teleconference with WAC supremo Karl Benson, with coinciding functions taking place at UTSA and Texas State to share the good news with school officials, VIPs, the media and whoever else has been invited.

Preceding all that, of course, UTSA president Dr. Ricardo Romo still has to get the rubber stamp of approval in Austin from the University of Texas System Board of Regents, which should happen in the next couple of hours. But with official press releases flying out since last night, this is the given of all givens.

(The link doesn’t appear to want to load up for me, so I can’t check it. But for anybody who wants to watch, the meetings are apparently available online HERE.)

So, that’s about it in terms of a timeline. I’ll cut and paste a copy of the release as soon as I get it, and start to relay bits of information as soon as I get them. As I have yet to master — or even try, to be honest — Twitter, it might be a couple of hours before I’ve gotten all I need for the daily edition.

But, the main news is the same — UTSA will be marking this day on its historical ledger as the date it finally joined the big time. Well, the WAC, at least. Which is pretty much the same for an up-and-coming athletic program that is still roughly a year away from playing football.

One thing I have to stress — a lot of reports are floating around attaching a definitive date to UTSA’s addition, 2012-13. At this point, that’s an extremely strong bet, as Montana’s inclusion is looking to be less and less likely. And for every sport but football — we’ll call them The Others — it’s a lock.

But for the sake of complete accuracy, I’ve still got very good sources telling me that until Montana definitively says no — and as of yesterday at around 4 p.m., Benson said that hasn’t happened — there’s still a chance UTSA could delay the inclusion of its football until 2013. Probably not a great one, but a chance nonetheless.

And even if Montana does decline the WAC’s invitation, there’s apparently an option on the table that UTSA could — and I stress, COULD — play only a partial WAC schedule instead of the full seven-game slate.

This is not an insignificant detail, nor are the many NCAA rules that will impact when UTSA is an official member — i.e., when it will be eligible for conference titles and the like, instead of just filling out the dates while it fulfills its re-classification requirements as a move-up from the Football Championship Subdivision.

These pieces of info are what I’m actually most curious to find out today, if it’s possible. But again, the main news remains the same — UTSA is Western-bound.

PS — We’re breaking in a new blogging engine at the EN, and I just figured out how to add the option for comments. All five of my fans can now start opining away!

4 Responses

Dan, actually you have six fans! Just kidding, I’m sure others (like myself) check your blog regularly but have never gotten around to posting. Thanks for all the great coverage.

I’m with meepmeep, this is a day of celebration for all San Antonio, not just UTSA. The university is really growing into a fine institution that the whole city can be proud of. Can’t wait to see those Runners in the Dome!

Unbelievable at the speed which this entire process happened. What a huge gain for San Antonio. Its hard to even say it….but SA finally has a D1 football team of its own! With so many local talents on the roster I truly hope all of SA can embrace this program and help it grow, regardless wether you attended UTSA or not, this program is an asset for our entire community.

Would have loved to see Montana in the mix, but can certainly understand their decision. I assume Seattle will be quickly invited to make for an 8/10 conference.

Now lets pack the birdcage On Nov 30th to welcome our new conf mate SJSU!!!! And Lady Runners, lets start this WAC transition off on the right note and wrap up that reg season volleyball championship with a beating of TXST tonight.

and Dan, time to embrace Twitter man, its what all the “cool” news guys are doing

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